Fitness centers around the world see a significant increase in traffic at this time of the year. However come February and the traffic starts dropping and eventually gets back to normal levels. More than 90% of the people who start off with a resolution at the new-year end up failing at it. We have prepared a list of 5 top reasons why we fail in our new-year resolution. We hope that by being aware of these reasons you will be better prepared and will end up in the 10% who stay on track with their resolution and eventually achieve success.
1. Not knowing what to do
Most often we realize that we are in bad shape and make a resolution that we will lead a healthy life and get fit. We then decide to start exercising and take up any sort of workout that we feel like. Many of us start running everyday or exercising on elliptical, or go to the gym and perform any sort of exercise that we see others performing in the gym. In the enthusiasm and the desire to get fast results, we start to workout everyday. In the end we either injure ourselves or do not see good results and hence give up and get back to our old habits.
All of this happens because of our own ignorance. Most often people think that getting fit is about performing exercises and eating correctly, however it is a little more complicated than that. We need to be a little more specific about our fitness goals and then choose the right type of workout to attain that goal. A workout regimen for losing fat and for gaining muscles can be very different, which both will be different from the workout for endurance. Not performing the workout suited for our needs and just performing exercises based on what others are performing will only result in disappointment. Sticking to a workout program requires positive reinforcement, where you see good results of your effort. This can only happen if the workout is suited to your fitness goals and provides you good results without injuring you.
2 Not setting goals properly
In order to achieve our fitness goals, we first need to define it. Defining the goal is very important if we want to achieve it. Since most of us do not know much about fitness, we come up with a very general goal such as “getting in shape”, or “losing weight” or “get strong”. Since such goals are general, it is difficult to really measure if we are really attaining them or not. The result is after some time we lose interest and get back to our old habits.
A fitness goal must be specific and measurable, which means we need to define exactly what we want to achieve and then measure our progress towards it. An example will be losing 10 pounds or increasing our squats by 30 pounds. With such a goal we can come up with a defined workout program to achieve our goals and measure progress towards it.
3. Not defining the deadlines correctly
Having deadlines are crucial if we desire to achieve anything in time. Our brain is wired to work according to deadlines. Having a deadline gives us a sense of urgency to achieve our goals. The important thing is to define deadlines strategically. Just coming up with a single deadline for a big goal generally does not work, as the goal seems very distant and could be demotivating. A better approach is to have long term and short term goals and deadline for both goals. Achieving our short-term goals provides us small wins along the way, which keeps us motivated as we gradually make progress towards our long-term goal.
Such deadlines with the added positive reinforcement that we see from achieving our goals make us addicted to our workouts and eventually lead to success.
4. Lacking consistency and not following through
We can have well-defined fitness goals and a suitable fitness program for our fitness goals, however if we do not follow through, they are useless. Having a plan is only half of the game, we also need to execute it. Most of us usually start out well and perform our workouts diligently; however, as time passes we get caught up in other things and get distracted from attaining our goals.
There are age-old, well-proven techniques that you can use to stay on track. Psychological research has shown that if we decide in advance that we will workout at a certain time and make a promise to ourselves that we will perform it, then our chances of actually performing our workout increases significantly. One other technique that you can use is to make a commitment with your friend that if you do not perform your workout then you will owe them a certain dollar amount. At Kaa-Yaa we have developed our fitness app based on these two techniques to help busy professionals stay on track in their fitness journey.
5. Looking for Shortcuts
It is the innate characteristics of humans to desire results with minimum effort, which leads us to look for shortcuts. There is a full industry, which exploits this desire by offering weight loss pills and fat burning belts. These products seem so enticing as easy ways to get in our best shape. Unfortunately there are no shortcuts in life, and all this pursuit of shortcuts just leads us astray and results in wastage of both our time and money.
To really get results we need to understand that progress can only be made by making ourselves uncomfortable consistently and for long periods of time. This means that, we need to really enjoy our workouts. The good thing is we as humans are wired to feel rewarded when we overcome challenges. Completing a tough workout, which challenges us is therefore inherently rewarding. As we consistently perform our workout we start to enjoy them and gradually develop a healthy habit, which makes the full journey very rewarding. Think about it, what would be more rewarding, magically swallowing a pill and getting in shape instantly or working for 1 year to get to your fitness goals and enjoying the whole journey. At Kaa-Yaa we have developed our app to help you develop the healthy habit of regularly working out so that eventually you will automatically be wired to working out and enjoy your journey towards your fitness goals.